Mongolia - History

Archaeological investigations show that the land now known as Mongolia
has been inhabited since the Lower Paleolithic period, more than 130,000
years ago. By about 1000
BC
, animal husbandry of the nomadic type had developed, and by the 3d
century
BC
, a clan style of organization based on horsemanship had emerged. The
Huns, a Turkic-speaking people, driven westward during the Han dynasty
in China (206
BC
–
AD
220), created a nomadic empire in central Asia that extended into

Europe, beginning about
AD
370. It reached almost to Rome under the leadership of Attila
(r.433?–453) and declined after his death. Mongolia first played
an important part in world history in
AD
1206, when the Mongol tribes united under the leadership of the
conqueror Temujin, or Genghis Khan. The Mongols set up their capital at
Karakorum and established a vast empire extending from the northern
Siberian forest to Tibet and from the Caspian Sea to the Pacific. After
the death of Genghis in 1227, his empire was divided among his sons into
Mongol states, or khanates: the Great Khanate of East Asia, which
included the Yüan dynasty of China, and reached its peak under
Kublai Khan (r.1260–94), who established his capital at Cambaluc
(now Beijing); the Khanate of Chaghadai (Djakhatai) in Turkestan; the
Hulagid Khanate, founded by Hulagu Khan in Persia; and the Golden Horde
in southern Russia, founded by Batu Khan, who invaded Poland and Hungary
in 1240. Having crossed the Danube River, Batu withdrew in 1241. The
Mongols' century of dominance in Asia allowed for great trade and
cultural interchange but also led to the spread of the bubonic plague to
Europe.

During the 14th century, the great Mongol states disintegrated. The
Yüan dynasty in China collapsed in 1368, to be replaced by the
Ming dynasty; the western part of the Turkestan Khanate was incorporated
into the empire of Timur in 1390; Hulagu's Persian empire
disintegrated after 1335; and the Golden Horde was attacked and shaken
by the forces of Prince Dmitry Donskoy in Russia in 1380 but ruled South
Russia into the 15th century. In 1369, at the age of 33, Timur, also
called Timur Lenk ("Timur the Lame") or Tamerlane,
proclaimed himself ruler of all the land lying between the Tien Shan and
the Hindu Kush mountain ranges. The Mongols retired to their original
steppe homelands, splitting into three major groups: the northern
Khalkha Mongols, north of the Gobi Desert; the southern Chahar Mongols,
south of the Gobi; and the western Oirat Mongols. Babur, a descendant of
Timur, founded the Mughal (or Mogul) Empire (so called from the Farsi
word for "Mongol") in India in 1526; it lasted until the
18th century. Buddhism, which had been introduced by Tibetan monks in
the 15th century, became widespread in the 16th and 17th centuries.

A cleavage developed between the northern (outer) Mongols and the
southern (inner) Mongols, who had been more closely associated with
Mongol rule in China. In the course of conquering China, the Manchus
subdued the southern Mongols in 1636, placing them under the eventual
rule of China's Qing (Ch'ing) or Manchu dynasty
(1644–1911). The northern Mongols, who had been fighting with
western Mongols for supremacy, sought Manchu aid against their foes and
accepted Manchu suzerainty in 1691. Finally, the Manchus destroyed the
western Mongols as a historical force in 1758. The Russian-Chinese
border treaties of Nerchinsk (1689) and Kyakhta (1727) confirmed Chinese
rule over both the southern and northern Mongols but assigned the
Buryats to Russia.

Following the overthrow of the Manchu dynasty by the Chinese revolution
in 1911, northern Mongol princes proclaimed an autonomous Outer Mongolia
under the rule of Bogdo Khan, the Living Buddha (Jebtsun Damba
Khutukhtu) of Urga, an earlier name of Ulaanbaatar. A treaty with the
tsar's government pledged Russian assistance for the autonomous
state. After the Bolshevik Revolution, the Chinese exploited
Russia's weakness, reoccupying Outer Mongolia in 1919 and ending
its autonomy. In early 1921, the Chinese were driven out by Russian
counterrevolutionary forces under Baron von Ungern-Sternberg. He, in
turn, was overcome in July 1921 by the Mongol revolutionary leaders
Sukhe Baatar and Khorloin Choybalsan, assisted by the Soviet Red Army.
Under Soviet influence, a nominally independent state, headed by the
Living Buddha, was proclaimed on 11 July 1921 and lasted as a
constitutional monarchy until his death in 1924.

The Mongolian People's Republic (MPR), the second communist
country in world history, was proclaimed on 26 November 1924. With the
support of the former USSR, Communist rule was gradually consolidated.
Large landholdings of feudal lords were confiscated, starting in 1929,
and those of monasteries in 1938. A 10-year mutual assistance treaty,
signed in 1936 and renewed for another 10 years in 1946, formalized the
close relations between the former USSR and the MPR. In the summer of
1939, with Soviet support, the Mongolians fought invading Japanese along
the border with Manchuria, ending with a solid defeat for the Japanese
in September. After a virtually unanimous plebiscite by the Mongolians
in favor of independence, the Nationalist government of the Republic of
China formally recognized the MPR in 1945 (it withdrew its recognition
in 1953) and the Nationalists on Taiwan still claim Mongolia as part of
China. On 14 February 1950, the People's Republic of China and
the former USSR signed a treaty that guaranteed the MPR's
independence. In October 1961, the MPR became a member of the United
Nations. Conflicting boundary claims between the MPR and China were
settled by treaty on 26 December 1962, and on 30 June 1964 the MPR and
the former USSR signed a 20-year treaty of friendship, cooperation, and
mutual assistance. In June 1987, the MPR and the United States
established diplomatic relations. With the growth of cities around the
mining industry, Mongolian society shifted from being 78% rural in 1956
to being 58% urban in 1989.

With their close ties with the former USSR, Mongolians were well aware
of Soviet policies of
glasnost
(openness) and
perestroika
(restructuring) and of the democratic movements in Eastern Europe after
the mid-1980s. The MPR initiated its own policy of
"openness" (il tod) and began economic reforms to serve as
transitional steps away from a centrally planned, collective economy and
toward a market economy. Following the first popular demonstrations
calling for faster reforms, in Ulaanbaatar in December 1989, the ruling
Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party (MPRP) opted for political
as well as economic reforms. The MPRP's leadership resigned in
March 1990 and in May the constitution (of 1960) was amended to allow
for new, multiparty elections, which took place in July. The MPRP won a
majority (85% of the seats) in the legislature, the People's
Great Hural (PGH), which took office in September. The PGH elected as
president a member of the MPRP, Punsalmaagiyn Ochirbat, but invited the
opposition parties to join in forming the new government.

During 1991, the new government discussed Mongolia's economic and
political transformation. It issued vouchers to all citizens for the
purchase of state property as a step toward privatization. Economic
reform was made more difficult by the economic collapse of the former
Soviet Union. In 1991, Russia insisted on trade based on cash rather
than barter and dramatically cut aid. By 1992, Mongolia faced severe
energy shortages. In 1991, the PGH also discussed the writing of a new
constitution, which took effect in February of the next year. Based on
that constitution, elections in June 1992 created a new legislature
(with a MPRP majority), the State Great Hural (SGH) and, in June 1993,
President Ochirbat was reelected (but with the support of a coalition of
new parties, not the MPRP) in the first direct presidential elections.
By September 1992, some 67,000 former Soviet troops (in Mongolia since
1966 when Sino-Soviet tensions increased) completed a process of
withdrawal begun in 1990.

In the 1996 parliamentary elections, discontent, especially among the
young, led to the defeat of the MPRP. The leaders of the winning
Democratic Union Coalition (DUC), mostly political novices, promised to
intensify market reforms. The election results marked the first smooth
transfer of power in Mongolia's modern history and one of the
most peaceful among all the former communist nations. In the following
years, however, the stability and effectiveness of Mongolia's
democratic government were hobbled by disunity within the majority DUC
and by the political stalemate between the DUC and the ex-communists of
the opposition MPRP. In late 1996 and early 1997, the MPRP prevailed in
local elections, and its candidate, Natsagiyn Bagabandi, was elected
president. After the resignation of two prime ministers, the nation was
left with an interim government in the second half of 1998, as Bagabandi
rejected multiple DUC nominees for the post.

In October 1998 the country was shaken by the murder of Sanjaasurengiyn
Zorig, a pro-democracy leader and government minister who had been
tapped to be the next DUC nominee for prime minister. By August 1999,
yet another DUC government had fallen, and Rinchinnyamiin Amarjargal,
the 38-year-old former foreign minister, became Mongolia's third
prime minister in 15 months.

On 2 July 2000, parliamentary elections were held that resulted in an
overwhelming victory for the MPRP. The MPRP took 72 of 76 seats in the
State Great Hural, with only 4 seats going to opposition members.
Nambaryn Enkhbayar was named prime minister. On 20 May 2001, Bagabandi
was reelected president with 58% of the vote, giving the MPRP control of
both the presidency and parliament. The elections were characterized by
international observers as free and fair.

In November 2002, the Dalai Lama visited Mongolia, a trip denounced by
China. China warned Mongolian officials not to meet with the Tibetan
spiritual leader, and briefly suspended train services with the country.
Thousands of Mongolian Buddhists attended the Dalai Lama's speech
on 6 November.

As of early 2003, the country continued to face problems of high
unemployment, poor welfare and education systems, corruption, crime, and
harsh winters. The severe winter of 2001 killed at least 1.3 million
livestock; approximately 40% of Mongolians depend upon the
country's 30 million livestock for their livelihood. Mongolia,
though engaging in increased privatization of state-owned enterprises to
speed the country's alignment with free market principles, has
been careful to dedicate a percentage of the resulting revenues to
social programs.